'All My Children' Star Alan Dysert Dies at 75
Alan Dysert, the actor best known for playing conman Sean Cudahy on the long-running soap opera All My Children, has died at 75, his wife Michele announced on social media on Sunday, USA TODAY reported.
A wife's farewell
Michele Dysert wrote that her husband died on Friday, 23 October, USA TODAY reported. “My heart is broken as I share that my beloved husband, Alan, passed away,” she wrote, adding that she was “forever grateful to have experienced what so many people spend their lives searching for — the love of a lifetime.”
His agent, Melinda Eisnaugle, confirmed his death in a statement to USA TODAY on 26 October, writing that he “was loved by many in the industry community.”
The soap role that defined him
Dysert played Sean Cudahy, the scheming brother of Tom Cudahy, on All My Children during the 1980s, Entertainment Weekly reported, in stints in the early part of the decade and again later in the decade. Page Six reported that he appeared in 79 episodes of the ABC soap, a role that remained the best-known credit of his screen career.
His other screen work included an uncredited appearance on Soap in 1978, films including Two Weeks and The Grift, and a final appearance earlier this year in The Legend of Van Dorn, Entertainment Weekly reported.
Teacher, writer and a long illness
Beyond acting, Michele Dysert described an “extraordinary life” that began on a farm in Illinois and led to work as an “actor, musician, writer, filmmaker, producer, and beloved acting teacher,” USA TODAY reported. He founded The Actor's School in Franklin, Tennessee, where, his wife wrote, he was a “life changer” for thousands of students.
Dysert wrote about his health in his 2023 memoir, Lights, Camera, Cancer!, which described a diagnosis of what he called a “rare, aggressive and incurable cancer,” Entertainment Weekly reported. Page Six reported that the book described four major cancer-related surgeries, a recurrence, chemotherapy and 29 CT scans. His wife did not confirm a cause of death, Entertainment Weekly reported, saying only that he had “faced more than his share of health challenges over the years” and had “fought hard for the life he loved.”
He is survived by his wife, Michele, whom he married in 2008, and his sons Cody and Cooper, according to The Hollywood Reporter's account of his life.
Sources: USA TODAY, 26 October 2026; Page Six, 26 October 2026; Entertainment Weekly, 27 October 2026.